


8 Years In

by thatwriterlady



Series: 30 Day Writing Challenge 2016 [26]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: 30 Day Writing Challenge 2016, Anniversary, Bisexual Dean Winchester, Castiel Loves Dean Winchester, Dean Winchester Loves Castiel, Dean was confused, Established Castiel/Dean Winchester, Fell in love with Castiel, Fluff, Homosexuality, Love, M/M, Mention of past sexual identity crisis, Romance, True Love, proposal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-26
Updated: 2016-11-26
Packaged: 2018-09-10 20:23:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,674
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8937823
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thatwriterlady/pseuds/thatwriterlady
Summary: Cas and Dean had been together for 8 years, and it has been the best 8 years of Cas' life.  He decides as their anniversary rolls around that he wants to propose.  When he consults Sam about it, the younger Winchester brother has a good idea of how to go about doing it.Cue an adorable Destiel love story chock full of fluff.





	

**Author's Note:**

> It has been wicked cold at this end of the world and my wifi access has been even less because of it. I was NOT leaving my house just to use my best friend's when it was 5 outside. No thank you! I stayed toasty warm in my house. I have Day 26 and 27 completed, and I'm about 95% done with Day 28. I'll post 27 tomorrow, and hopefully 28 as well. I happen to have a little bit of wifi tonight here at home (it comes and goes, and it's rare that I have it for any longer than say, 5 minutes, so I decided to go ahead and put up Day 26. I do hope you like this one, and that it gives you the warm and fuzzies.

Day 26: Interacting with Family Members

“Sam, may I speak with you this afternoon? I would like to get lunch at the diner by your house.”

Sam picked his head up from where he’d been going over papers for a case and pressed the phone a little more firmly against his ear.

“Is something wrong?”

“No, no, nothing is wrong, I just…” Cas sighed on the other end of the line. “It’s important that I speak to you. Alone.”

Well that was odd. Sam’s stomach clenched. He really hoped the man wasn’t thinking of breaking up with his brother. Sure, Dean could be an emotionally constipated twat, but he loved Cas with everything he had, and he thought their relationship was pretty strong…

“I can meet you in an hour. Will that work?”

“Oh, yes, that will work perfectly, actually. I will see you then.” Cas sounded pleased as he disconnected the call. Too bad Sam tended to be a pessimist. He had a bad feeling.



Sam walked into the diner just under an hour later and spotted Cas sitting in a booth in the back corner. The man was dressed in a black wool coat and a suit, rather odd dress for a Saturday afternoon. He slid into the seat across from Cas.

“Hey, Cas. Everything ok?” He asked. Cas smiled warmly. A good sign, right?

“Oh, everything is wonderful, actually. But I need your advice, and I couldn’t ask for it over the phone. Dean has the guys over for the football game today and the house is very loud at the moment.”

Sam relaxed a little. 

“Ok, advice on what?”

“Well, tomorrow is Dean’s and my anniversary. I intend to propose. He likes when I make romantic gestures, but I am at a loss for how to ask him to marry me in a romantic way when it’s going to be too cold to really go out and do anything.” Cas folded his fingers around his cup, which Sam was only now realizing was filled with coffee. A waitress appeared and filled one for him before he could respond. When she was gone, he turned his attention back to Cas.

“Seriously? You’re going to propose? That’s fantastic. I still remember when you guys first met, at that party I threw for Dean’s birthday at the ice rink. You were there with your nieces trying to teach them to skate and if I remember correctly, you weren’t so hot yourself and fell. Dean helped you up.” Sam had been busy skating around with his then girlfriend, Jess. He remembered people falling, but one stood out. A man in a tan trench coat lying flat on his back with Dean stopped beside him. The next thing he remembered, Dean was helping not only the man but 2 little girls as they made their way around the ice.

“That is correct. I was trying to do my brother a favor and take his girls out for the afternoon so that he could have some time alone with his wife. She was a bitch and he could never please her. I’m glad he wizened up and left her. Unfortunately I had very little experience with ice skating.” Cas chuckled at the memory. “My ass hurt for weeks after that. I bruised my tailbone.”

Sam grinned at the memory.

“Yeah, I sort of remember that. Who asked who out though?”

“Oh, I did. I wasn’t leaving without his number. He was the most beautiful man I’d ever seen.” Cas’ grin was wolfish. It made Sam laugh.

“Yeah, well, I’m glad you came into his life. He was a miserable asshole before he met you. And so certain he was straight that his constant postulating was enough to make everyone want to punch him on almost a daily basis. The very fact that he agreed to go out with you that day was a complete and utter shock.”

“Well, I saw how he was. I’ve known plenty of men like him before, so I got him to agree to come take a look at my car. That he readily agreed to. From there I invited him to coffee, and then he admitted he liked me, but was confused as to why. It took a hell of a lot of patience on my part. He never told you any of this?” Cas asked as he lifted his cup to his lips.

“No, he said you guys were just friends for like the first 2 months. But I saw the way he looked at you. And I knew you were good for him. You came into his life and everyone else ceased to exist. All the women that constantly flirted, none of the held a candle to you. I think you two had been dating 6 months when he sat me down and told me you were more than just his friend. I told him I already knew.” Sam replied. 

“He was in therapy, did you know that? A of issues stemmed from how you were both raised, and we almost broke up several times because he kept having these panic attacks. But eventually he realized that not only is he bisexual, it’s ok to like men and women. I learned later that I wasn’t the first man he’d been with, but I was the first he wanted more than just a quick fling with. He’s a different man than he was when we first met, and I love him even more now than ever. I know he has said he’s not the marrying type in front of you and friends and such, but he’s different with me. I think he’s too scared to ask. That he’s afraid it will negate his manhood, but that’s nonsense.” Cas pursed his lips as he sipped at his coffee. The waitress returned to take their order, and then they were alone again.

“Dean has always wanted to do the whole settling down, having a few kids thing.” Sam said.

“Yes, but before he met me, he thought he would be doing that with a woman. I turned his world upside down in more ways than one.”

Cas was worried, Sam could hear it in his voice.

“Hey, I’m going to tell you something, ok? Listen close.” He waited until Cas was looking him in the eye before he continued speaking.

“Dean loves you more than he has ever loved anyone. These are his words, spoken from his lips to my ears. He can’t imagine his life without you in it, and when he talks about his future, you are a part of every single plan he makes, so I know he wants to spend the rest of his life with you. So if you love him that much, ask him. He’ll say yes.” Sam was certain of 2 things. That his brother was completely and irrevocably in love with Cas, and that Cas was just as in love with Dean. His brother might have an internal debate about what it meant for his masculinity (Sometimes Dean could be a real idiot) to be in a same sex marriage, but he knew Dean wouldn’t let Cas go. 

Cas and Dean had been dating for nearly 8 years now. Sam knew his brother wanted something permanent with Cas. Something more than what they currently had. It was just another of the many topics they discussed, usually when Sam was prying to get info out of him. But Dean didn’t fight him too much before giving it over. 

“So here’s what you do. Take him back to the ice rink. We’ll recreate your first meeting, when you asked him out. Except this time, when he leans down over you, you hold up that ring and ask him to marry you.” Sam was a little excited about it now. Helping to plan the actual proposal was going to be fun, if Cas liked the idea.

“You don’t think he would be suspicious?” Cas wondered.

“I have a plan.” Sam said. Cas smiled.

“Oh, well, do tell.”



“Where’s Cas?” Dean asked as he parked in the lot by the ice rink.

“He’s coming. Said he needed to stop and get something fixed on his skates.” Sam replied as he got out. 

“Don’t worry, he’ll be here.” Sam’s girlfriend Sarah said as she got out of the backseat. Dean sighed and nodded.

“Yeah, ok.”

“You renting again?” Sam asked as he and Sarah started for the rental stand.

“I didn’t rent last time. I have 2 pairs. I brought the better ones for tonight.” Dean stopped at his trunk and opened it to pull his skates out. 

“I’ve never been ice skating. Is it hard?” Sarah asked as she leaned back against the rental booth where Sam was renting skates for them both. 

“Once you get the hang of it, it’s pretty easy.” Dean had sat down on a bench and was switching out of his boots and into his skates.

“This place is pretty.” Sarah said as she looked out across the rink itself. There were a couple dozen people already out there skating and enjoying themselves.

“This is where I met Cas. He came with his nieces for some bonding but he barely knew how to skate himself and he was trying to teach Mia and Zoe. It was hilarious, until I realized Cas was really hurt. Since then we come back at least once every winter. He’s a ton better than he used to be. Last winter we came back at least 3 times.” Dean said as he tied the laces. When he looked up he was smiling brightly.

“You’re an old romantic, you know that?” Sarah teased. He just shrugged.

“Yeah, well, he’s worth it.”

“You’re a sap.” Sam teased as he led Sarah over to another bench. They began taking their shoes off and Dean watched as Sam helped her into the skates. He didn’t dare mention that it had been Jess who had been Sam’s skating partner that day at his party. Didn’t matter, he liked Sarah better anyway. 

“Come on, we can show Sarah how to do this.” 

Between the 2 of them they helped Sarah out onto the ice. She wobbled a lot and if it weren’t for the 2 men practically holding her up she’d have fallen a dozen times within the first 5 minutes. They were so focused on keeping her upright that neither of them had noticed Cas arrive.

“Babe, what are you wearing? Where’s your wool coat?” Dean asked as his boyfriend came skating over.

“Dry cleaners. I had to drop it off, I spilled coffee down it this afternoon.” Cas smiled at Sam and Sarah before turning his attention to Dean. He leaned in for a kiss that Dean eagerly responded to. 

“Are you warm enough? I have flannel in the car.” Dean murmured against his lips. Cas pulled back and unbuttoned the coat to reveal the flannel he was already wearing.

“I’m good, sweetheart. I’m warm.” 

Dean held out his hand. “Ready to take a spin with me?”

Cas smiled and took his hand. Dean pushed off and Cas followed. He didn’t wobble as much as he did when he’d first started skating and he was proud of himself for that. Skating with Dean was something he loved and every time Dean smiled at him, his stomach fluttered. Even after all these years a simple look or touch was enough to make Cas’ heart beat faster and give him butterflies. Glancing around he saw the other skaters. A few of which looked familiar. The plan he and Sam had hurried to put together was falling into place. 

Dean’s attention was on Cas as they glided over the ice so he didn’t notice when more people came out onto the ice. 

“I’ve been thinking.” Dean said.

“Oh? What about?” Cas looked up at him, waiting for him to continue.

“I was talking to Hannah and she says that a house came up for sale. Remember we talked about getting a bigger place? This one has a den and an office on the first floor, a finished basement, a huge living room, 3 more bedrooms upstairs, and a huge yard. As soon as she told me about it, I thought of you. We’ve talked about moving to a place where you’d have an office on the first floor, and this place has that. So you can have a comfortable place to work from home.”

Cas smiled and squeezed Dean’s hand.

“I like that. Have you seen it yet?”

“No, she just told me about it last week. I wanted to surprise you since it’s our anniversary.” Dean slid to a stop and pulled Cas against him. “Happy Anniversary, babe.”

Cas smiled wider. 

“Happy Anniversary to you as well, darling.”

Movement over Cas’ shoulder drew Dean’s attention and his eyes widened in surprise. 

“Zoe?”

“Hey, Uncle Dean!” Zoe came to a stop next to Cas and smiled up at Dean.

“What are you doing here? Did you come alone?” Dean asked. 

“No, Mia’s here with me.” 

Dean pulled her closer so he could kiss the top of her head.

“Well it’s good to see you, kiddo. Where’s your sister?”

“Trying to teach my dad how to skate.” She pointed towards one of the entrances where indeed Mia was trying to hold her father up as he stepped onto the ice.

“What…your dad’s here too?” Dean laughed when Gabe went down on his butt. “Shit, I better help him.”

Dean gave Cas’ hand one last squeeze before he skated off to go help Gabe. Zoe turned to look at her uncle.

“He’s totally oblivious?” 

Cas laughed.

“So far, yes.” 

She clapped her hands excitedly, the sound muffled by her mittens.

“I can’t wait! Charlie’s here too, she’s going to videotape it all. When are you doing it?” She asked.

Cas checked his watch. Eight years ago at exactly 7:49 he had fallen on his ass as he tried in vain to teach his then 10 and 12 year old nieces how to ice skate. It was now 7:45.

“Four minutes.” 

“Here comes Mia.” Zoe pointed to her sister.

Cas held a hand out to his other niece and she hurried to take it.

“I can’t believe he hasn’t noticed the others here yet.” She laughed. He held a hand out to Zoe and she took it. They started skating, making a loop until they were back around to where Dean was trying to keep Gabe on his feet.

“Babe, your brother can’t skate for shit.” Dean laughed. 

“Shut up, Dean-o, I’m trying!” Gabe snapped.

“Hey, Gabe.” Sam appeared with Sarah who looked to be much steadier on her skates than she had been when they had first arrived.

“Hey, Sam.” Gabe nodded and forced his legs to stop sliding apart.

“Come here, I’ll help you.” Sam offered his arm and Gabe latched on.

“You sure?” Dean asked.

“Yeah, Gabe can come get some hot chocolate with Sarah and me.” Sam assured him.

“That sounds wonderful!” Gabe exclaimed. 

Dean watched his brother, Gabe, and Sarah skate slowly towards one of the exits, the one nearest the hot chocolate vendor. He turned around to seek Cas out again. Just as he spotted him, he saw his boyfriend go down, taking both of his nieces with him. 

“Cas!” 

He raced over to them, skidding to a stop and dropping to his knees.

“Baby, what happened? Are you ok?” 

Cas blinked from his sprawled out spot on the ice but made no attempt to get up. 

“Hello, Dean.” He smiled which baffled Dean completely.

“Babe, I think you hit your head.” 

Cas laughed and with help from his boyfriend, sat up.

“I didn’t hit my head, though my tailbone may regret this fall later.”

“Reminds me of another time when you fell like this.” Dean chuckled and shook his head.

“Well, this time…” Cas got to his knees and taking a deep breath, pulled a small box from his coat pocket. “I’m down here for a reason.”

Dean cocked his head only for a second before his eyes widened.

“Cas…”

“Dean, I wanted so much to do something romantic for our anniversary, but I wanted more than just that. I love you, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you, but not just as partners. If you’ll have me, I want to marry you. I want a family, a home, and I want those things only with you. So…” Cas opened the box and held it out in front of him. “Dean Winchester, will you marry me?”

He held his breath. God he hoped Sam was right.

“Cas, baby, I love you so much. Yeah, yeah, I’ll marry you.”

Dean didn’t even hesitate. He had Cas wrapped in his arms and was kissing him before Cas had a chance to blink.

“Yes?” Cas managed to ask in between the kisses Dean was showering on him.

“Yes, baby, I want to marry you! I wanted to ask you, I-I just didn’t know the best way to do it. I’m so glad that you did it first!” Dean was in tears and Cas found it hard to see through his own blurred vision. He was vaguely aware of cheering and once Dean had sat back, he focused on getting the ring out of the box and onto his fiance’s finger.

“What the hell?” Dean was looking around at the crowd watching them and realized he knew everyone there. Cas took the opportunity to get back up on his feet, and Dean did the same.

“Did you see the time?” He asked.

“Time?” Dean shook his head.

“He proposed at the same moment he first met you. Isn’t that romantic?” Zoe gushed. She and Mia were already standing again, both with huge, sappy smiles on their faces. Dean’s expression softened and he cupped Cas’ face gently.

“You old romantic you. Is that why you wore the trench coat too? Because that’s what you were wearing the night we met?”

“Yes. And I invited the people that came to your birthday party that year, plus a few extras.” Cas replied.

“Hence the reason I’m here.” Gabe came gliding back over the ice towards them.

“Son of a…you can skate?” Dean cried. Gabe grinned.

“I was on the hockey team in high school. Of course I can skate. Cas here could when he was little, but he forgot. Got so wrapped up in his books that he was never out on the ice with me anymore. But you got him back out on it. I thank you for that, and for changing his life for the better. Welcome to the family.” He grabbed Dean’s hand and shook it firmly. Dean took a moment to look around in astonishment. So many familiar faces. It was like that night all over again, but better. He turned to Cas and smiled.

“Do I need to come take a look at your car?” He teased. Cas laughed and wrapped his arms around Dean’s waist.

“Not this time. Car is fine.” He touched the band of silver sitting on Dean’s left hand. “Everything is perfect this time around.”

Dean pulled him close and kissed his forehead.

“And we’ll have a bigger house too. Kids, we’ll have kids too, baby. Maybe I’ll tell Hannah we need something bigger.”

“Let’s look at that one first, ok? I’m sure it’s wonderful.” Cas said.

“I got it! I filmed the whole thing!” Charlie was at the edge of the ice waving her camera at them. Dean snorted and rolled his eyes.

“I want to see that. Tonight!”

“Will do!” She grinned.

Dean led Cas off the ice and over to the benches where they sat down to take off their skates.

“My tailbone is bruised.” Cas grumbled. Dean snickered and bent down to remove his skates for him.

“You didn’t have to fall again.” Dean teased as he got the first of Cas’ skates off.

“I was recreating a moment. The moment I laid eyes on the most beautiful man I had ever seen in my life.” Cas said. Dean looked up at him, seeing the blue eyes watching him, and how filled with love they were.

“You know, that’s my favorite moment in time. When I got to help the most gorgeous doctor I’d ever met up off the ice. I didn’t know what to do with myself. I’d been too afraid to get serious with a guy before you. But I let you in, took a chance, and I thank my lucky stars every single day that I did. I’m glad you did it here too, this proposal. I couldn’t have imagined a better place.”

“I wanted to do it on our anniversary, but it’s so cold, I knew there wasn’t a whole lot we could do outside, but Sam suggested I do it here. I’m happy I did too, with our family and friends watching. This was perfect. Every moment with you has been wonderful.” Cas said as Dean got his second skate off.

“When do you want to do it?” Dean asked.

“Tonight. Over and over.” Cas replied grinning. Dean burst out laughing.

“No, you perv. Get married. I think…” He sucked in his lower lip for a moment in thought. “That since winter brought us together, we should get married in winter. Maybe not here, on the ice, but somewhere like this.”

Cas set his feet on the ground, ignoring the cold that began to seep in through his socks and leaned forward until they were nose to nose.

“I like that idea. A winter wedding, with blues and silvers.”

“Whatever makes you happy, babe.” Dean rubbed his nose against Cas’ gently.

“You make me happy, Dean. I love you, more than anything in the world.”

Dean smiled. “Thank you for falling on your ass that day.”

Cas laughed happily, and it was music to Dean’s ears.

“Thank you for picking me up.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Kudos and comments are always welcome. I love you guys!


End file.
